To the Sky
by Crowfeather's Dream
Summary: My sisters and were born as rogues. But soon, we would be the greatest Clan cats in the entire forest. AU, disregards New Prophecy.


**A rather different, darker story to distract me from my classes. Enjoy it.**

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"Dinner."

I didn't look up when father dropped the mouse in front of my mother's paws before turning away, and didn't need to look up to see the look of disdain the flashed across his face as he eyed me and my sisters. I ignored it as always and crowded around my mother with my siblings, waiting for her to eat her share before tossing us the leftovers. She smiled warmly down on us before pawing the whole mouse in our direction. Had we not been starved ourselves, we would have questioned her lack of appetite, but we fell upon the plump piece of prey without hesitation, reveling in such a rare find in the coldest moon of leafbare yet. As we inhaled the meat, mother swept past us to stand by father's side.

Father thought he was better than us, you see. His name was Rookfeather, and he came from a group of cats who called themselves RiverClan. He told us little of his life, but we learned what he refused to say from mother, who told us bedtime stories of four great Clans who followed the mystical StarClan, fighting battles to defend their honor and their Clanmates, followed a ancient a noble warrior code, and were led by leaders who had been gifted nine lives by their spirit ancestors.

And we, we were miserable rogues.

When I had eaten my fill, I stepped back, sweeping my tongue around my maw as I watched mother and father through narrowed eyes.

"They're arguing again," my sister, Robin, murmured as she stepped back. I nodded in agreement when I saw mother's ear flatten in the way they did whenever something angered her. The fur on father's back bristled in frustration, and I could tell from the way his jaw was set that he was forcing out each and every word with strained politeness.

Father loved mother, there was no doubt about that. But we were halfbreeds; he spared none of that rare affection for us. When he hunted, he hunted for mother alone, and it was out of the kindness in her heart and her love for us that made her share whatever he managed to bring her.

Mother spat one final thing, her lips curled, and father bowed his head in defeat. I exchanged smug glances with my sister, unsurprised; in all of the fights we had witnessed, it was always mother who came out on top.

That smugness was short-lived, however, when they padded back over to where we sat. Mother swept us all to her side to coddle us, and I shook her off, annoyed that she would choose now to give such a performance, especially when father was looking down on me with his customer sneer in place. But her words froze me where I stood.

"Father will be taking you away from here, now," she whispered quietly, and she quieted our surprised cries with a quiet hiss. "This wilderness is no place for you to grow up. He will take you to his Clan, where you can live out proper, meaningful lives."

Our shock died a little at the mention of living with one of the Clans. I exchanged exciting glances with my sisters, but then the youngest, Cardinal, piped up.

"Mother, will you be coming with us?"

She smiled and shook her head. "My little ones, I am far too set in my ways now to possibly join a Clan. I am better off here."

My breath caught in my throat and I spoke out for the first time. "If you can't come with us, then I won't go!"

A snort erupted from behind me. "In ShadowClan, you would be on the cusp of apprenticeship, kit. Apprentices do not pine away for their _mothers_."

He was silenced with a stern glance from my mother. "You have always been clever, silent, and strong, my Rook," she said warmly, licking me between the ears. "So much like your father, your namesake, indeed. I hope you live up to everything that he has done."

I bowed my head to humor her, but inside, I seethed. The only thing father had accomplished, in my eyes, was alienating himself from his children.

"Keep them this last night," father muttered in his low tones. "I shall speak with Eaglestar on the matter."

"Will she take them in?" Mother's voice was hushed with worry.

Father paused. "I cannot say for certain. But instinct tells me she would not turn out three kits without a mother."

I blinked. "Without a mother?" But he was gone, sweeping through the underbrush without a sound. I felt a grudging admiration for his obvious stealth.

Mother gave me a nudge. "Worry not, Rook. Your father is very, very intelligent."

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The black tom in question sat in front of his leader with his head bowed, ears flat against his head, as a lithe she-cat paced furiously back and forth in front of him.

"How? My most trusted senior warrior!" She rounded on him angrily. "How could you be so careless?"

"I loved her." Rookfeather barely held back a flinch at how weak his excuse sounded.

Eaglestar's golden eyes softened a fraction. "I understand you can't help who you fall in love with," she meowed calmly. "But I would have expected more self control out of you. Your actions have weakened ShadowClan; our patrols will now have to hunt twice as often to feed mouths that aren't even Clan-born on top of everything else."

Rookfeather's shoulders slumped with relief. "So you will take them in?"

"Of course. I'm not about to refuse three perfectly healthy kits who's mother has left them! Besides," a steely glint entered her gaze, "ShadowClan could use a few more warriors. Come Greenleaf, we will be the strongest Clan in the forest!"

He meowed in agreement and allowed himself to relax. He had fulfilled Melody's final request of him, which was the most he could have done. The half-Clan kits, at her request, would be safe from harm for many seasons to come, other than the usual border skirmishes and illnesses. And as for Melody herself…

He felt a pang of sorrow. Melody would disappear, melting back into the shadows of the Twolegplace where he had found her, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and led her on a night that could have never ended for all they cared. She was kind, fair, and gentle. She had always been good to him, and now was doing what any good mother should do, looking after the well-being of her children.

He back out of Eaglestar's den as she turned her back on him dismissively. As he padded out of the ShadowClan camp to alert his mate and her kits, his paws felt heavy and tired.

He really had loved her.

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"What did you tell them?"

"Simply that I had fathered three half-Clan kits whose mother abandoned them to me."

A hum of sadness rumbled through mother's body and into mine, and my ears twitched at the sensation. "Rook will not like others thinking that I deliberately left them."

"Rook," father scoffed. "Rook needs to learn to grow up and realize that most things are done for his sake, even if they aren't necessarily going his way. Besides," he added shrewdly, "if he's dishonorable enough to eavesdrop, I doubt a little white lie will put him out for too long."

Heat scorched my fur, and I cracked open one eye to give father a hostile glare. Light from the waning moon silhouetted his form, and his face was in shadow. He frowned on me.

"Wake your sisters. It is time to leave."

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**It's been quite some time since I've voyaged in Warriors. Hopefully my re-introduction wasn't too painful.**


End file.
